Translating policy to place: exploring cultural ecosystem services in areas of Green Belt through participatory mapping

\ua9 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Green Belts are longstanding planning designations, which primarily seek to prevent urban sprawl. Importantly, they form the open spaces close to where most people live, but we lack clarity over how Green Belts are used and valued by publics, and the cultural ecosystem services they provide. To address this policy and research gap, a public participatory mapping survey was conducted on the North-East England Green Belt, with 779 respondents plotting 2388 points. The results show for the first time that in addition to being a planning policy zone, Green Belts are important, and widely used open spaces for ‘everyday nature’, providing several cultural ecosystem services including recreation, connection with nature, sense of place and aesthetic value. Several factors were found to influence the supply of cultural ecosystem services in Green Belts, including proximity to urban areas, woodland land cover and access designations. Whereas most demand pressures on Green Belts were on public rights-of-way, nature designations and deciduous woodlands. Pervasive barriers inhibiting Green Belt’s full potential were identified including management issues, concerns over personal safety and lack of access. We argue that opportunities to further enhance the cultural ecosystem services provided Green Belts and peri-urban landscapes more broadly, not only come from planning policies themselves, but from the design and delivery of approaches integrating urban, rural and land-use policy silos. The findings have wider implications for policy including potential conflict with future development, and opportunities for greater access to greenspace

Are market norms and intrinsic valuation mutually exclusive?

Are market norms and intrinsic valuation mutually exclusive? Many philosophers have endorsed the thought that market institutions necessarily evacuate non-instrumental value and hence the market and the realm of intrinsic worth are mutually exclusive. Indeed the evacuation of value by the market has been a recurrent theme of much moral and political thinking about the morality of commercial exchange. Consider the following passage from Marx: "Money debases all the gods of man and turns them into commodities. Money is the universal, self-constituted value of all things. It has therefore robbed the whole world, human as well as natural, of its own values." In a similar vein Hannah Arendt writes: "The much deplored devaluation of all things, that is, the loss of all intrinsic worth, begins with their transformation into values or commodities, for from this moment on they exist only in relation to some other things which can be acquired in their stead." Perhaps most famously of all Kant suggests that the market institution of price evacuates value: "In the kingdom of ends everything has either a price or a dignity. If it has a price, something can be put in its place as an equivalent; if it is exalted above all price, then it has a dignity". Evidently for Kant, as for Marx and Arendt, the process of commodification evacuates value as a matter of logical necessity

A search for High Mass Stars Forming in Isolation using CORNISH & ATLASGAL

Theoretical models of high mass star formation lie between two extreme scenarios. At one extreme, all the mass comes from an initially gravitationally-bound core. At the other extreme, the majority of the mass comes from cluster scale gas, which lies far outside the initial core boundary. One way to unambiguously show high mass stars can assemble their gas through the former route would be to find a high mass star forming in isolation. Making use of recently available CORNISH and ATLASGAL Galactic plane survey data, we develop sample selection criteria to try and find such an object. From an initial list of approximately 200 sources, we identify the high mass star forming region G13.384+0.064 as the most promising candidate. The region contains a strong radio continuum source, that is powered by an early B-type star. The bolometric luminosity, derived from infrared measurements, is consistent with this. However, sub-millimetre continuum emission, measured in ATLASGAL, as well as dense gas tracers, such as HCO+(3-2) and N2H+(3-2) indicate that there is less than 100 M$_{\odot}$ of material surrounding this star. We conclude that this region is indeed a promising candidate for a high mass star forming in isolation, but that deeper near-IR observations are required to put a stronger constraint on the upper mass limit of young, lower mass stars in the region. Finally, we discuss the challenges facing future studies in proving a given high mass star is forming in isolation

Integrated population modelling reveals a perceived source to be a cryptic sink

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Demographic links among fragmented populations are commonly studied as source-sink dynamics, whereby source populations exhibit net recruitment and net emigration, while sinks suffer net mortality but enjoy net immigration. It is commonly assumed that large, persistent aggregations of individuals must be sources, but this ignores the possibility that they are sinks instead, buoyed demographically by immigration. We tested this assumption using Bayesian integrated population modelling of Greenland white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons flavirostris) at their largest wintering site (Wexford, Ireland), combining capture-mark-recapture, census and recruitment data collected from 1982 to 2010. Management for this subspecies occurs largely on wintering areas; thus, study of source-sink dynamics of discrete regular wintering units provides unprecedented insights into population regulation and enables identification of likely processes influencing population dynamics at Wexford and among 70 other Greenland white-fronted goose wintering subpopulations. Using results from integrated population modelling, we parameterized an age-structured population projection matrix to determine the contribution of movement rates (emigration and immigration), recruitment and mortality to the dynamics of the Wexford subpopulation. Survival estimates for juvenile and adult birds at Wexford and adult birds elsewhere fluctuated over the 29-year study period, but were not identifiably different. However, per capita recruitment rates at Wexford in later years (post-1995) were identifiably lower than in earlier years (pre-1995). The observed persistence of the Wexford subpopulation was only possible with high rates of immigration, which exceeded emigration in each year. Thus, despite its apparent stability, Wexford has functioned as a sink over the entire study period. These results demonstrate that even large subpopulations can potentially be sinks, and that movement dynamics (e.g. immigration) among winters can dramatically obscure key processes driving subpopulation size. Further, novel population models which integrate capture-mark-recapture, census and recruitment data are essential to correctly ascribing source-sink status and accurately informing development of site-safeguard networks.This research was funded through a joint PhD studentship to M.D.W. from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and the University of Exeter, and through a NERC grant (NE/L007770/1) to D.J.

Should I stay or should I go? Fitness costs and benefits of prolonged parent-offspring and sibling-sibling associations in an Arctic-nesting goose population.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Theory predicts persistence of long-term family relationships in vertebrates will occur until perceived fitness costs exceed benefits to either parents or offspring. We examined whether increased breeding probability and survival were associated with prolonged parent-offspring and sibling-sibling relationships in a long-lived Arctic migrant herbivore, the Greenland white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris). Although offspring associated with parents for 1-13 years, 79 % of these associations lasted two or less years. Only 65 (9.9 %) of the 656 marked offspring bred once in their lifetime, and just 16 (2.4 %) bred twice or more. The probability of birds with siblings breeding successfully in a subsequent year was credibly greater than that of independent birds at ages 5, 6, and 7. Survival of offspring with parents was credibly greater than that of independent/nonbreeder birds at all possible ages (i.e., ages 2-7+). A cost-benefit matrix model utilizing breeding and survival probabilities showed that staying with family groups was favored over leaving until age 3, after which there were no credible differences between staying and leaving strategies until the oldest ages, when leaving family groups was favored. Thus, most birds in this study either departed family groups early (e.g., at age 2, when the "stay" strategy was favored) or as predicted by our cost-benefit model (i.e., at age 3). Although extended family associations are a feature of this population, we contend that the survival benefits are not sufficient enough to yield clear fitness benefits, and associations only persist because parents and offspring mutually benefit from their persistence.This research was funded through a joint PhD studentship from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and the University of Exeter undertaken by MDW

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the rural southern Free State

Background: A worldwide increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) has been reported and an even further increase is expected as a result of lifestyle changes. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of DM in the rural southern Free State and to investigatethe contribution of risk factors such as age, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference to the developmentof impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or DM.Methods: Fasting venous plasma glucose (FVPG) levels were obtained from a total of 552 participants from Springfontein (n = 195), Trompsburg (n = 162) and Philippolis (n = 180). Participants were between 25 and 64 years of age, with 28.1% male (mean age 47.3 years) and 71.9% female (mean age 46 years). Anthropometric status was determined using standardised techniques. Levels of physical activity were determined using a 24-hour recall of physical activity as well as frequency of performing certain activities. Relative risks (RR) as well as 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were used to distinguish significant risk factors for having IFG or DM.Results: In the study population the prevalence of DM was 7.6% (5.2% in men and 8.6% in women) and that of IFG was 6.3% (4.5% in men and 7.1% in women). The majority of nondiabetic (34%), IFG (55%) and DM (61%) participants were between the ages of 51 and 60 years. Age was found to be a statistically significant risk factor for having IFG or DM in participants older than 40 years of age (RR 2.3; 95% CI [1.22; 4.34]). Crude measurements (not age- and gender-adjusted) of waist circumference (RR 3.23; 95% CI [1.82; 5.74]), BMI (RR 2.32; 95% CI [1.43; 3.78]) and waist-to-hip ratio (RR 2.51; 95% CI [1.55; 4.07]) were statistically significant risk factors for having IFG or DM. Physical inactivity in men ≥ 40 years was also a statistically significant risk factor (RR 3.23; 95% CI [1.15; 9.05]) for having IFG or DM.Conclusions: In this study, 37.5% of diabetics were newly discovered. A high waist circumference, BMI and waist-to-hip-ratio were associated withan increased risk for developing IFG or DM, with a high waist circumference being the most significant general risk factor. Physically inactive men(≥ 40 years) were also at a higher risk of having IFG or DM. Follow-up FVPG and glucose tolerance tests should be performed on participants in the IFG group. A need for intervention regarding the identification and treatment of DM in these rural areas has been identified.Keywords: impaired fasting glucose; diabetes; risk factors; rura

The underestimation of cultural risk in the execution of megaprojects

There is a real danger that both practitioners and researchers considering risks associated with megaprojects ignore or underestimate the impacts of cultural risk. The paper investigates the potential impacts of a failure to achieve cultural unity between the principal actors executing a megaproject. The principle relationships include the relationships between the principle Contractors and the project stakeholders or the project stakeholders and their principle advisors, Western Consultants. This study confirms that cultural dissonance between these parties can delay or disrupt the megaproject execution and examines why cultural issues should be prioritized as a significant risk factor in megaproject delivery. This paper addresses the practical impacts and potential mitigation measures, which may reduce cultural dissonance for a megaproject's delivery. This information is retrieved from on-going case studies in live infrastructure megaprojects in Europe and the Middle East's GCC states, from Western Consultants' perspective. The collaborating researchers each have at least 30 years of construction experience and are engaged in architecture, project management and contracts management, dealing with megaprojects in Europe or the GCC. After examining the cultural interfaces they have observed during the execution of megaprojects, they conclude that globally, culture significantly influences their efficient delivery. The study finds that cultural risk is ever-present, where different nationalities co-manage megaprojects and that cultural conflict poses a real threat to the timely delivery of megaprojects. The study indicates that the higher the cultural distance between the principal actors, the more pronounced the risk, with the risk of cultural dissonance more prominent in GCC megaprojects. The findings support a more culturally aware and cohesive team approach and recommend crosscultural training to mitigate the effects of cultural disparity. Keywords—Cultural risk underestimation, cultural distance, megaproject characteristics, megaproject execution

Cassini in situ observations of long duration magnetic reconnection in Saturn’s magnetotail

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in solar system and astrophysical plasmas, through which stored magnetic energy associated with current sheets is converted into thermal, kinetic and wave energy1, 2, 3, 4. Magnetic reconnection is also thought to be a key process involved in shedding internally produced plasma from the giant magnetospheres at Jupiter and Saturn through topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field5, 6. The region where magnetic fields reconnect is known as the diffusion region and in this letter we report on the first encounter of the Cassini spacecraft with a diffusion region in Saturn’s magnetotail. The data also show evidence of magnetic reconnection over a period of 19?h revealing that reconnection can, in fact, act for prolonged intervals in a rapidly rotating magnetosphere. We show that reconnection can be a significant pathway for internal plasma loss at Saturn6. This counters the view of reconnection as a transient method of internal plasma loss at Saturn5, 7. These results, although directly relating to the magnetosphere of Saturn, have applications in the understanding of other rapidly rotating magnetospheres, including that of Jupiter and other astrophysical bodies

Turnip mosaic potyvirus probably first spread to Eurasian brassica crops from wild orchids about 1000 years ago

Turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV) is probably the most widespread and damaging virus that infects cultivated brassicas worldwide. Previous work has indicated that the virus originated in western Eurasia, with all of its closest relatives being viruses of monocotyledonous plants. Here we report that we have identified a sister lineage of TuMV-like potyviruses (TuMV-OM) from European orchids. The isolates of TuMV-OM form a monophyletic sister lineage to the brassica-infecting TuMVs (TuMV-BIs), and are nested within a clade of monocotyledon-infecting viruses. Extensive host-range tests showed that all of the TuMV-OMs are biologically similar to, but distinct from, TuMV-BIs and do not readily infect brassicas. We conclude that it is more likely that TuMV evolved from a TuMV-OM-like ancestor than the reverse. We did Bayesian coalescent analyses using a combination of novel and published sequence data from four TuMV genes [helper component-proteinase protein (HC-Pro), protein 3(P3), nuclear inclusion b protein (NIb), and coat protein (CP)]. Three genes (HC-Pro, P3, and NIb), but not the CP gene, gave results indicating that the TuMV-BI viruses diverged from TuMV-OMs around 1000 years ago. Only 150 years later, the four lineages of the present global population of TuMV-BIs diverged from one another. These dates are congruent with historical records of the spread of agriculture in Western Europe. From about 1200 years ago, there was a warming of the climate, and agriculture and the human population of the region greatly increased. Farming replaced woodlands, fostering viruses and aphid vectors that could invade the crops, which included several brassica cultivars and weeds. Later, starting 500 years ago, inter-continental maritime trade probably spread the TuMV-BIs to the remainder of the world

Histiocytoid cardiomyopathy and microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome: phenotypes linked by truncating variants in NDUFB11

Variants in NDUFB11, which encodes a structural component of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC), were recently independently reported to cause histiocytoid cardiomyopathy (histiocytoid CM) and microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome (MLS syndrome). Here we report an additional case of histiocytoid CM, which carries a de novo nonsense variant in NDUFB11 (ENST00000276062.8: c.262C > T; p.[Arg88*]) identified using whole-exome sequencing (WES) of a family trio. An identical variant has been previously reported in association with MLS syndrome. The case we describe here lacked the diagnostic features of MLS syndrome, but a detailed clinical comparison of the two cases revealed significant phenotypic overlap. Heterozygous variants in HCCS (which encodes an important mitochondrially targeted protein) and COX7B, which, like NDUFB11, encodes a protein of the MRC, have also previously been identified in MLS syndrome including a case with features of both MLS syndrome and histiocytoid CM. However, a systematic review of WES data from previously published histiocytoid CM cases, alongside four additional cases presented here for the first time, did not identify any variants in these genes. We conclude that NDUFB11 variants play a role in the pathogenesis of both histiocytoid CM and MLS and that these disorders are allelic (genetically related)